Some of the finest amateur dramatics groups from the UK will be welcomed back with open arms when a long-running, week-long drama festival returns to the island’s grandest stage.

Having missed two years due to the lockdown, the Easter Festival of Plays will make its comeback over the bank holiday weekend, with six nights of quality theatre, performed by visiting and local drama companies, taking place at the Gaiety Theatre.

Opening the festival will be the Peterborough Mask Theatre group, who will perform ‘Constellations’, by Nick Payne, on Easter Sunday evening. ‘Constellations’ won an Olivier award at the recent ceremony for best revival play.

They will be followed by two nights of theatre by regular visitors White Cobra Productions, who will perform ‘Bette and Joan’, a stage dramatisation of the rivalry between film divas Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, on Easter Monday, and ‘Love Letters’ on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday will offer the chance to see the two local winning plays from the recent One Act festival of plays, including ‘The Lover’, performed by ‘Hog The Limelight’, and ‘The Musicians’ performed by the young actors of the Stage One drama school.

The visitors return for Thursday evening, with a performance of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, by the North London-based Mutley and Minques Theatre Dramaticus, with the festival coming to a close on Friday evening courtesy of the Wellington Theatre Company, who will perform their version of the thriller ‘Inspector Drake and the Black Widow’.

Each of the plays will be adjudicated by top UK theatre official Jan Palmer-Sayer, with the festival awards being handed out on the final night.

Last held in 2019, the Easter Festival of Plays, organised by the Manx Amateur Dramatic Federation, was all set to be held in April 2020, with the festival preparing to celebrate its 75th anniversary.

Federation president Michael Lees said that he and the MADF organising committee are delighted and relieved to be able to host the Easter festival once again, with fears that he was worried that they may not make it back onto the stage at all.

‘We are very excited about having the festival back, to say the least. We have all missed it and can’t wait to get it going again,’ said Michael.

‘Unfortunately this year we have lost a day, due to the fact we didn’t have enough entries. So we have five plays from four different groups this year and one extra night where we will present the two winning plays from our One Act Play festival, which took place in March.

‘That’s not to say that the enthusiasm isn’t here from the teams, as the five that are taking part are incredibly keen to get over here and to perform.

‘But it would have been a big surprise if the festival was to just go straight back to how things were pre-Covid.

‘I think festivals like this will take a little time to get back to where we were, but we are almost there this year, and are confident of running a very successful festival.’

Michael believes that festivals such as this are important to keep original theatre going after the recent disruptions.

‘The big thing about his festival is that you will see plays that you wouldn’t see normally,’ he said.

‘Here is also the chance to see how certain plays can get tackled by the different teams. They can be performed in such different ways.

‘Mutley and Minques, who are doing The Importance of Being Earnest, are coming at it from a very different angle, and with a pretty modern twist.

‘It’s also nice to hear the adjudicator’s talk about the plays. Not necessarily to criticise, but to point out what works and how they work, that kind of thing. You can learn an awful lot from festivals like this.’

Details of performance times and admission prices are available at www.madf.im